The Must Read Triathlon Guide

5 Drinks to avoid before you train

5 Drinks to avoid before you train

Hydration has always been a key element of any triathletes training program. Lack of strength while swimming, cycling or running or imbalance and poor overall performances are often a sign of dehydration.

Proper hydration is needed before, during and also after your training and thus it’s important you stick to the right liquids. While water is the obvious choice there are plenty of flavored drinks available both good and bad so here’s a list of the top 5 drinks you need to avoid before your training.

Alcohol

One drink that goes out of the pre-training drinks list without saying is booze. Whether it’s just a beer or a cocktail if your training is coming up next alcohol is going to do you no good. Excess of it is only going to lead to dehydration, prolonged inflammation, loss of balance and poor choices.

A cup of coffee with low caffeine content is the ideal choice as it can get you up and running quickly thus helping you train efficiently.

Carbonated Drinks

Apart from alcoholic drinks, the next most harmful drink for your training is fizzy soda drinks. These drinks often result in bloating due to gas and also cause cramps and aches. The high sodium content in the drinks sucks out the water from the cells leading to dehydration.

Aspartame used in drinks as the sweetening agent is known to reduce memory, migraines, dizziness etc. Ice tea or coffee is a better alternative and in the right amounts keep cancer away.

Sports Drinks

Lots of athletes advertise sports drinks but truth be told only a hand full of them are genuine. Most of these drinks are packed with sugar and preservatives and while may provide some electrolytes; hardly have any valuable nutritional value.

The high sugar content of these drinks causes hormonal imbalance in the body which impairs the recovery process. Rather opt for a glass full of fresh tomato juice since it contains potassium and natural sugar and keeps BP in check.

Milk drinks

While milk has its own set of benefits it isn’t the perfect pre-race drink either. These drinks are best consumed after your training routine. That’s because milk is rich in protein, carbs and fat and takes longer to digest. For protein intake stick to whey supplements mixed with water. These are digested quickly and plus provide your training the much-needed boost.

Fruit Juices

Remember those squeezy fruit juice packets you so loved growing up? For your pre-training hydration, these are one the worst possible choices as they contain high amounts of high fructose corn syrup. This is an unnatural sweetener known to damage liver, metabolism and causes weight gain.

For fruit juice lovers there’s no drink better than freshly squeezed juice from citrus fruits such as oranges, berries etc. Coconut water too is an excellent alternative to regain lost electrolytes.